Administratrix



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTHA A. RUDOLF, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF JOHN RUDOLF, DECEASED.

PlANO-ACTlON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,057, dated January 6, 1891.

Application filed June 16,1890. Serial No. 355.617. (No model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that JOHN RUDOLF, deceased, at the time of his death a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, did during his lifetime invent certain new and useful Improvements in Piano-Actions; and I, lllARTHA A. RUDOLF, administratrix of the estate of said J OHN RUDOLF, do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improvement upon the form of piano-action shown in Letters Patent of the United States No. 308,201, granted to said JOHN RUDOLF, November 18, 1884. There are two distinct branches to the action, one of which relates to the mechanism for operating the hammer and the other to the mechanism for operating the damper. The former will be described first.

A is the ordinary rail running lengthwise of the action to form a rest for the hammers when in the normal position. This is faced with the usual felting a.

A is the rail to which the hammer and the damper are hinged.

A is a rail supporting the hammer-shoe.

A is a rail supporting bell-cranks for operating the damper.

B is the hammer. form.

B is the stem of the hammer, and B is the hammer-block in which the lower end of said stem is secured. The rear lower corner of said block B is secured to the rail A by a hinge is the hammer-shaft joined by its upper end to the lower forward corner of the block B by a hinge B is a foot secured to the lower end of the stem B B is the hammer-shoe.

This is of the ordinary This intervenes between the foot B and the rear end of the key C, and is hinged to the rail A at B The key 0 is hinged upon the pin or post C in the ordinary way.

0 is a screw extending downward through the key 0 near the rear end of the latter and bearingat its lower end a buifer 0 By turn iug said screw said buffer may be raised or lowered to regulate the depth to which the rear end of the key 0 may fall. Padding G is inserted between the key C and the shoe B Said shoe extends forward of the hinge B a short distance and a screw B extends downward through said end and supports a buffer B above the key C. It is obvious from an inspection of the drawing that if the rear end of the key 0 be raised it will raise that portion of the shoe B at the rear of the hinge B turning said shoe upon said hinge so that the portion forward of said hinge, together with the buiferB will descend until said buffer comes into contact with the upper face of the key 0. Then the key 0 can rise no farther, because it is opposed on one side of the hinge l3 by the bufferB and on the other side by the heel B of the shoe B It will be seen, then, that the downward movement of the key 0 may be lessened by turning the screw 0 downward and that the upward movement of said key may be lessened by turning the screw 13 downward. The block B rests normally upon a narrow hip B which latter is a part of the shoe B Felting b intervenes between said hip and said block.

\Vhen the front end of the key O is struck by the player so that the rear portion of said key rises, the shoe B block 13, and shaft B are forced upward, and the hammer-stem B and hammer B are thrown rearward, so that the latter strikes the strings D. To effect the release of the hammer B to permit it to recoil as soon as it has received sufficient impetus to strike the blow upon the strings, the block B is released from the hip 15 during the progress of the stroke. This is done by automatically pushing the block B forward sufficiently to cause it to fall from said hip.

B is an arm rising from the shoe B above the foot 13, and having its upper portion directed forward so as to normally stand almost in contact with a bnifer b supported by a screw b, extending through the upper portion of the foot B When the rear end of the key 0 rises, the shoe B is turned upon the hinge B and the arm B is turned upward and forward in the arc of a circle of which said hinge B is the center. Thus said arm B comes into contact with the head during the latter part of the upward movement of the key C and pushes said block b and the block B forward, so that the latter slips from the hip B and drops into the space in front of said hip. At this instant the hammer B is impelled forward only by its own momentum and the momentum of the parts connected with it. A buffer B is supported between the lower face of said block B and the upper face of the shoe B by a screw b. Said buffer B limits the depth to which the block B may fall when pushed from the hip B Said bufier B may be adjusted vertically so as to vary this limit. The face B at the right ofthe lower portion of the block B is at a proper distance from the adjacent portion of the rail A to limit the forward movement of the block B. The buffer b" may be adjusted horizontally by turning the screw I)", thus varying the interval during which the arm B of the shoe B shall bear against said buffer b B is an expanding coiled spring inserted between the rail A and the block 13, so as to press downward and rearward against the latter and cause the latter to descend and assume its normal position. I have also provided for using the weight of the shoe B for this purpose.

The forward portion of the arm B is provided with the lower horizontal face I), and an arm B extends laterally beneath said face from the block B, normally not quite incontact with said face. When the shoe B is turned upon the hinge E the face Z2 is raised more slowly than the arm B and by the time the limit of upward movement is attained the arm B will have overtaken and made contact with the face 12 and when the block B is now forced from the hip B the Weight of the rear portion of the shoe B will rest upon the arm B and tend to draw the block B, the shaft B and the hammer B into their normal posit-ion. I

E is the pianissimo-pedal stem. This rises through the bottom of the piano against the frame composed of the arm E and bar E Said frame is hinged at E along the side of the bar E The bar E lies beneath the rear ends of the keys 0 and is normally out of contact with said keys. The upper face of said bar is covered with felting. When it is desired to produce pianissimo effects or to repeat upon the piano, the pedal is depressed so as to raise the stem E and bar E until the latter raises the rear ends of the keys 0 to such an extent that their range of movement is limited and a heavy stroke of the hammer is made impossible. When in this position the hammer 7B is also prevented from returning to its normal position against the rail A, so that another stroke may be made without moving the hammer through its full range of movement.

F is the ordinary damper, supported by the stem F. The latter has near its middle a rearward extension F hinged to the rail A at F The gravity of the damper and its stem an d the spring F, inserted between said stem and the rail A, hold the damper and stem in the tilted position, the damper resting against the strings D. This portion of the damper construction is not new.

F is a bell-crank arranged between the lower end of the stem F and the rear end of the key 0, and hinged at F One arm of the bell-crank rises in front of the lower end of the stem F, and the other arm rests upon the projection C of the key (3. Felting is inserted between the bell-crank F and the stem F, and felting c is inserted between said bell-crank and the key 0. The forte-pedal stem G rises through the bottom of the piano into engagement with the frame composed of arms G and bar G By raising the stem G the bar G is raised against the horizontal arm of the bell-crank F so that the upright arm of said bell-crank is turned against the lower end of the damper-stem F, and the damper turned away from the string D.

In piano-actions hinge-joints are objectionable. They are troublesome to make and keep in repairs. Hence they increase the cost and decrease the quality of the pianos. In this improvement it has been endeavored to reduce not only the number of parts, but also the number of hinge-joints. \Vhere practicable to omit such hinges and substitute abutting faces it has been done.

I claim as the invention of the said JOHN RUDOLF 1. The combination of the key 0, pivoted between its ends, an adjustable buffer located beneath the rear end of said key, a shoe B hinged to a rail above said key and having aheel resting upon the latter and having a hip B and a rising arm B and the hammer-shaft 13, depending from above said shoe and resting normally upon said hip, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination of the key 0, pivoted between its ends, a shoe B hinged to a rail above said key and having a heel resting upon the latter and having a hip B and a rising arm B and the hammer-shaft B depending from above said shoe and resting normally upon said hip, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a piano-action, the combination of the key 0, the shoe B hinged to a rail directly above said key and havinga heel resting normally upon the latter and having a hip B and a rising arm 13 a hammer B, hammerstem B, hammer-block B hinged to a rail at B and aham mer-shaft hinged to said hammerblock and depending from said hinge and cientlynear the arm B to be engaged by the latter when'said shoe is rotated upon its hinge IIO by the lifting of the rear end of the key C, substantially as shown and described.

4. The combination of the key 0, pivoted between its ends, the hinged shoe 13", located above said key and having at one side of its hinge a heel esting upon said key, and an adjustable buffer located between said key and shoe at the side of the hinge of the latter opposite said heel, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination of the key 0, pivoted between its ends, the hinged shoe B located above said key and having at one side of its hinge a heel resting upon said key, and an adjustable buffer located between said key and shoe at the side of the hinge of the latter opposite said heel, and an adjustable butter located beneath the rear end of the key C, substantially as shown and described.

6. The combination of the key 0, the shoe B hinged to a rail directly above said key and having a heel resting upon the latter and having a hip B, an adjustablebufferlocated between said key and shoe at the side of the hinge of the latter opposite said heel, the hammer B, stem B,hinged hammer-block B a hammershaft B hinged to said hammerblock and resting at its lower end upon said hip B and means for dislodging the lower end of said shaft from said hip during the stroke of the key, substantially as shown and described.

'7. The combination of the key C, the shoe B hinged to a rail directly above said key and having aheel resting upon the latterand having a hip B an adjustable bufferlocated between said key and shoe at the side of the hinge of the latter opposite said heel, the hammer B,steni B, hinged hammer-block B a hammer-shaft B hinged to said hammerblock and resting at its lower end upon said hip B and means for disl'odging the lower end of said shaft from said hip during the stroke of the key, and an adjustable buffer located beneath the rear end of said key O, substantially as shown and described.

8. The combination of the key 0, the shoe B hinged to a rail directly above said key and havingits heel resting normally upon the latter and having a hip B and a rising arm B a hammer B, hammer-stem B, hammerblock B hinged to a rail at B a hammershaft hinged to said hammer-block and depending from said hinge and resting normally upon said hip B and sutficiently near the arm B to be engaged by the latter upon the tilting of said shoe by the lifting of the rear end of the key 1, and a spring B for returning the lower end of the shaft B to its normal position, substantially as shown and described.

9. The combination of the key C, the shoe 8, hinged to a rail directly above said key and having its heel resting normally upon the latter, and having a hip B and a rising arm B a hammer B, hammer-stem B, hammer-block B hinged to a ail at B a hammer-shaft hinged to said hammer-block and depending from said hinge and resting normally upon said hip B and sufficiently near the arm B to be engaged by the latter upon the tiltingof said shoe by the lifting of the rear end of the key 0, and a spring B for returning the lower end of the shaft B to its normal position, and an adjustable bufterlocated beneath the rear end of the key G,substantially as shown and described.

10. The combination of the key C, the shoe B hinged directly above said key and having a heel resting upon the latter and hinged to a rail and supporting an adjustable downwardly-directed bu fter on the side of said hinge opposite said heel and havinga hip B the hammer B, stem B, hammer-block B hinged to a rail at B, a hammer-shaft B, hinged to said hammer-block and rest-ing at its lower end upon said hip B, and means for dislodging the lower end of said shaft from said hip during the stroke of the key, and a spring B for returning the lower end of the shaft to its normal position, substantially as shown and described.

11. The combination of the key C, the shoe B hinged to a rail directly above said key and having a heel resting normally upon the latter and having a hip B and a rising arm B having its upper end directed horizontally toward said hip, a hammer B, hammerstem B, hammer-block B hinged to a rail at B a hammer-shaft hinged to said hammerblock and depending from said hinge and resting normally upon said hip and having a lateral extension B extending beneath the horizontal portion of the upper end of the arm B substantially as shown and described.

12. The combination of the key C, a hinged shoe located above said key and having a heel resting upon the latter and having a hip B a hammer-shaft depending from above said shoe and resting normally upon said hip B and having a laterally-directed arm, and an adjustable buffer B, located between said arm and said shoe, substantially as shown and described.

13. The combination of the key G, a hinged shoe located above said key and having a heel resting upon the latter and having a hip B, a hammer-shaft depending from above said shoe and resting normally upon said hip and having a laterally-directed arm and an adjustable buffer B located between said arm and said shoe, and an adjustable butter located below said key 0, substantially as shown and described.

let. The combination of the key C, the shoe B located immediately above said key and having a heel resting upon the latter and being hinged to a rail A and having a hip 3 and a hammershaft depending from above said shoe and resting normally upon said hip and having a laterally-directed arm, with a face 13 extending opposite said rail A substantially as shown and described.

15. The combination of the key 0, the shoe B located immediately above said key and having a heel resting upon the latter and being hinged to a rail A and having a hip B and a rising horizontally-directed arm 15", a depending hammer-shaft resting normally upon said hip and having a laterally-directed arm B and buffers B and b arranged in relation to each other substantially as shown and described.

16. The combination of the key 0, the shoe B located immediately above said key and having a heel resting upon the latter and being hinged to a rail A and having a hip B and a rising horizontally-directed arm B a depending hammer-shaft resting normally upon said hip and having a laterally-directed arm B and buffers 13 and b and a spring B arranged in relation to each other substantially as shown and described.

17. Thecombination, with the shaft B hav ing a lateral extension B", of a hinged shoe B located beneath said shaft and having a rising horizontally-directed arm B extending over the extension B substantially as shown and described.

18. The combination,with the shaft B depending from the block B of a hinged shoe B located beneath said shaft and having a hi p B upon which said shaft normally rests, and a spring B arranged to bear upon said shaft downward and laterally toward said MARTHA A. RUDOLF, Administratr ia: 0f the estate of John Rudolf,

deceased.

WVitnesses:

A. MoReENrHAL, MURDOOH A. CAMPBELL. 

